Welcome to Storybrooke
by CaptainSwanQueen101
Summary: Pan's curse has been stopped and the world was made right again, or was it? There are unclear feelings, there are families in flux, what will happen next! Welcome to Storybrooke, not everything is as it seems. The title is in the works...Rating of K for now (this will change)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters or any rights, all I have done is create a different story with already developed characters.

_This story begins right as Regina is about to stop Pan's version of the curse._

* * *

Emma's face rested in Hook's palm, "Not a day will go by that I won't think of you." He said as she closed her eyes and a small tear squeezed out.

"Good." She replied, her voice breaking slightly as his hand fell and he stepped away from her, he shed a tear and turned his back so she wouldn't see.

Emma turned around heading toward her bug, she inhaled a deep shaky breath.

"Emma," she turned, "there's something I haven't told you." It was Regina.

"What now?"

Regina looked down at her feet, was she really going to say this in this very moment, could she bring herself to?

"When the curse washes over us, it will send us all back. Nothing will be left behind, including your memories."

"But-" Emma began, but Regina interjected.

"It's just what a curse does. Storybrooke will never have existed. So these last three years will be gone from the both of your memories. We'll just go back to being fairytales." Tears started to form in Regina's eyes as she spoke, she looked between Henry and Emma. This was much harder than she ever thought would be possible.

"What will happen to us?" Emma asked as she pulled Henry into her side.

"I don't know." Regina looked at her feet once again.

"That doesn't sound much like a happy ending."

Regina shook her head, "It's not," she looked up at Emma as a tear slid from her eye leaving a sparkling trail down her cheek, "but I can give you one."

"You can preserve our memories?"

"No but I can do what I did to everyone else in this town. I can give you new ones." Regina took Emma's hand in her own and placed her other over top. "My gift to you, is good memories. A good life for you, and Henry. You will never have given him up, you'll have always been together."

"You would do that?"

Regina nodded once, she would do anything for her but she couldn't very well just say that, "Of course."

Emma took a step closer to Regina and wrapped her arms around the older woman, she was trying so hard to not cry right now. Her eyes scanned the crowd though and it was impossible. Her mother, her father, she had just gotten them back and now she had to say goodbye to them forever. Killian, a pirate whom had started to find a place in her heart and would now never get the chance to actually take up rent there. Then there was Regina, the one she was hugging, they had started as enemies in this town but over the past three years they had become close and Emma didn't know exactly what these feelings were but they weren't hatred and that had been a start.

"Thank you Regina." She whispered before taking a step back.

"Mom," Henry wrapped his arms around Regina, "I love you."

"I love you too Henry...That's why I have to do this."

Henry nodded as he stepped back, "All this time I thought you hated me, but I was wrong. I know that now, and I'm so sorry."

Regina shook her head, "It's okay Henry, all that matters is you know now."

With that Emma and Henry turned around, walked to the yellow bug and got inside. Emma started the engine and began to drive as tears fell from her face and she drove over the town line.

~1 YEAR LATER~

Emma sighed as she buttered her toast. The giant glop wasn't spreading as well as she'd have liked.

"So what do you think of a vacation Henry?"

Henry looked up from his bowl of cereal and smiled, "I'd say how soon can we leave?"

Emma set her plate on the table and pulled her chair out, she shrugged and then sat down, "How about we leave today?"

Henry laughed as he shook his head, "Nice one mom, you really had me thinking we were going on a vacation."

"Well for you it would be, I mean you wouldn't have to go to school in Maine..."

"Maine? You've got to be kidding me that's not a vacation. A vacation is somewhere like Hawaii, or Florida, or Rome."

This time it was Emma's turn to laugh, "Sorry kid, but this job's in Maine."

"Of course it is." Henry sighed as he plopped is his spoon into the bowl, "You can never get a case somewhere warm. Why are you taking a case out of town anyway?"

"Because it sounds interesting."

"So does Rome..."

"Well no one from Rome has mailed me any cases. Someone from Storybrooke Maine has."

"Storybrooke? What kinda lame name is that for a town."

"Look, I didn't name the place, I didn't choose to live there. I'm just taking a case, and when it's done we'll be back here."

"What a stupid vacation." Henry huffed as he got up from his chair and went to his room slamming the door.

"Gotta love teenagers." Emma exhaled a large breath, "We leave in twenty!" She called to Henry.

"You expect me to pack in twenty minutes?!"

"Yes!"

~ 5 Hours 20 Minutes later~

"Welcome to Storybrooke." Henry rolled his eyes as he put his head against the window, "Where no one interesting would ever come because it's the middle of nowhere."

"Would you at least give this place a shot kid, you might like the small town thing."

"Doubt it."

Emma pulled her car into a parking spot in front of Granny's and turned to look at Henry, "Look, I know this situation is crappy and you just wanna go home. But I promise, I'm going to try to get this thing done as quick as I can and we can go home."

"Granny's, you've got to be kidding me. Who would name a place Granny's? Does everything taste like mothballs or something?"

"I doubt it." Emma said as they both climbed out of the car, "Anyway, the place I gotta check is out back." She handed Henry a twenty dollar bill, "Get yourself something to eat and I'll be right back."

Henry grabbed the bill and slowly walked inside the front door of Granny's restaurant. Emma watched making sure he went inside. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but Henry was thirteen and was sporadically having the attitude of a teenage boy. She knew he wasn't happy about being here and to be completely honest this place looked like it had been ripped off the page of a storybook so she didn't blame him. Reaching the top of the stairs Emma turned and knocked on the door. A few moment's later it was opened and a medium height, dark haired women was standing there. She had fair skin, and beautiful green eyes.

"Emma," her mouth was open a bit, and a look of shock dawned the woman's face.

Emma looked down at the letter in her hand, "Mary...Margaret Blanchard?"

Mary Margaret blinked a few times in confusion, she closed her mouth and nodded, "Emma? Um, come in, where's Henry?"

Emma cocked her head slightly confused by how this woman knew her son's name. "Excuse me?"

"Henry, oh, um, I'm sorry," Mary Margaret wrapped her arms around Emma whom went stiff, "I wasn't sure if you..." She released the blonde and stepped back, "what do you know Emma? How did you know?"

Emma held up the letter that was in her hand, "Your daughter skipped out on bail, you wrote this didn't you?"

Mary Margaret scanned the note shaking her head slightly as her eyes passed over the words. If she said no her daughter was sure to walk out of her life for good once again, but she couldn't lie to her could she? Who had written that note?

"Emma, you should come in...it's a long story."


	2. Chapter 2

Emma sat down on the brown puffy sofa that was in Mary Margaret's living room and looked at the women who was sitting across from her in it's matching chair.

"It's so good to see you Emma." Mary Margaret had a huge smile on her face, Emma couldn't help but think there was more to say but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was.

"So your daughter, she jumped bail?" Emma wanted to get down to business, she had promised Henry that this would be a quick case.

_Knock Knock Knock_

Mary Margaret popped up from her chair and began rushing to the door, "Oh I'll just grab that real quick."

"But the-" Emma sighed, "no worries, it's not like I have a life to get back to or anything."

Mary Margaret opened the door a crack and looked out, it was exactly whom she had expected. "Killian listen,"

"Is it true, she's back, she's in there isn't she Snow?"

"Killian, she doesn't remember."

Hook's face fell and he stopped for a moment, "What, what do you mean she doesn't remember? But, how is she back then?"

"That's just it, someone sent her a letter."

Hook looked up and tucked his hand and hook behind his back swaying his hips slightly, "Oh," he simply said as he scrunched up his face.

"Killian you didn't. You sent her a letter and marked it from me?"

"I..er...well, I thought she'd remember you first."

"My daughter skipped bail," she whispered angrily, "now that's just toying with emotions, my emotions Killian."

"I didn't mean anything by that Snow, I just thought maybe it would connect with her and make her come, and it did."

"Yeah, and now that she's here, how do you suggest we keep her with us? Send her on a wild goose chase for a missing daughter?"

"Don't be ridiculous, I have this." He held up a small bottle of liquid.

"And what is that exactly?"

"Well, something to bring back her memories." Hook replied as if it were obvious.

"A potion? How did you get that?"

"Your bird brought it to me."

"My bird? What are you talking about?"

Killian looked at her confused, "What do you mean what am I talking about? Your bird, back in the Enchanted Forest, come on Snow you're the only one that sends message by bird..."

Mary Margaret shook her head as her eyes rose from the bottle to Killian's face, "Killian I didn't send you anything."

"Sure you did, you just don't remember. The curse and all, remember it takes memories."

Mary Margaret squinted her eyes for a moment as she tried to think back to her time in the Enchanted Forest, but there was nothing. "I don't know, how can we trust that that's really from me? That it's not going to hurt her?"

"Snow do you honestly think I would risk Emma if I wasn't sure?"

"Emma, she's back?" The voice came from the stairs behind Killian, it was Regina. She stopped on the top step and was staring at Mary Margaret, "How, but when did she, how did she know?"

Killian scratched his head trying to appear innocent, "I sorta lied to her in a letter."

"Regina, what are you doing here?" Mary Margaret asked before stealing a quick glance back at Emma whom was becoming restless on the sofa.

"I just came to check on you, I figured you might need to talk having lost Emma again...and I was hoping to talk about my loss as well. But apparently you haven't lost Emma...Is Henry with her?"

Snow shook her head, "Not in here, I'm assuming he's in town somewhere though. I mean, she wouldn't just have left him."

"Mary Margaret?"

Mary Margaret scrunched up her face at Emma's voice within her apartment, "I'll be right there!" She sighed as she looked at Regina, "Do you have any suggestions on how we get her to stay in town?"

Regina paused for a moment, her eyes traveling to the bottle in Hook's hand and then back to Mary Margaret, "I don't trust his judgement-"

Hook rolled his eyes, "You really think th-"

"Let me finish Hook. I don't trust his judgement BUT, we can't loose her again. I think we need to give her what's in the bottle."

Mary Margaret looked at Regina, she couldn't believe that she was siding with the pirate. What if it was poison, what if it hurt Emma? But she could see from the look in Regina's eyes that something was happening, she knew better and she wouldn't let any bad come to Emma. With a sigh she held out her hand to Hook, "Fine."

"I am so sorry about that Emma. Just some neighborhood kid selling candles for school, I mean you can never have too many candles right? Oh, would you like some hot chocolate, I was making some when you got here it should be done now." Mary Margaret bustled off into the kitchen.

"I...Well I guess I don't really get a choice in the matter." Emma spoke under her breath as she watched the dark haired woman rush about in the kitchen. "I have a feeling this case is going to take a lot longer than I was hoping."

"Here you go." Mary Margaret handed Emma a mug.

Emma looked down at the cup, hot chocolate with whipped topping and a cinnamon stick poking out the side. "How did you," she looked up at Mary Margaret whom was looking on as if she were watching her favorite television show.

"How did I what dear?"

"Oh it's nothing, just, the cinnamon, how did you know?"

"Oh I'm sorry I put it in mine, kinda a family thing I wasn't really thinking. Would you like me to make you a fresh one without?"

"No, I like it like that actually...thank you." Emma took a quick sip, "Now, your daughter. What does she look like?"

"She umm, well she's blonde."

Emma nodded as she took another drink from her mug, "Any distinguishing characteristics?"

"Oh plenty," Mary Margaret said with a smile as she gazed at Emma causing her to feel a bit awkward.

Emma quickly lifted her mug to cover her face as she drank the rest of the hot chocolate. Mary Margaret sat across from her staring intently.

_Is this going to work? It has to work it's our only shot. Come on Emma, remember, REMEMBER!_

Emma set the cup down, her eyes scanning the room and finally landing on Mary Margaret, "Snow? But," her voice cracked slightly as she spoke, "is this really happening, you're really back?"

Mary Margaret let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding, "We're really back Emma." She nodded as she spoke, tears welling in her eyes.

Mary Margaret stood up and rushed to Emma, quickly wrapping the blonde in a tight hug, "I'm so glad you found us again."

Emma hugged the brunette back, after a moment though she took a step back an expression of realization on her face, "How are you back, what went wrong?"

Mary Margaret's shoulders raised as she shook her head, "I don't know, none of us do. We all just remember the day you left and then we woke up in our beds in Storybrooke like nothing had happened."

"Were you frozen again?"

"No, no we know we went back, but we just don't know what happened while we were there."

"But if you can't remember any of it, how do you know it happened?"

"Snow, honey," the voice came through the door and then it opened, Charming was on the other side looking confusedly at Regina and Hook, "did you kno-" his eyes met Emma's and the bags of groceries dropped from his hands, "Emma."

Emma's eyes went wide as she saw the small baby strapped to David's chest, "I guess that's how you know." she said as she stared.

"Emma," Mary Margaret rushed over to David and unstrapped the baby picking it up and cradling it gently, she walked over to Emma, "I'd like you to meet your baby brother."

Emma looked down at the infant as he slept in Mary Margaret's arms, she looked up at her mother, then slowly back down at the infant, "What's his name?"

Mary Margaret looked over at David, "That's kinda a problem, we, well, we don't remember. David thinks we would have named him Samuel, and I think we would have named him Michael, and we don't know if either of them are right..."

"So what have you been calling him?"

Mary Margaret looked down at the baby in her arms and then over at Emma, "Son."

Emma's eyes widened, "You've been calling him son? He's going to grow up thinking that's his name-"

"I know, we both know, but we can't remember what his name was and we don't want to call him the wrong thing-"

As Mary Margaret spoke Emma's attention drifted to the people still at the door, "Killian." She smiled lightly as she walked over and wrapped her arms around the scruffy man.

"Hello love. Not a day went by that I didn't think of you."

Emma couldn't help the small chuckle that slipped from her, "Good." she replied.

Regina watched as Emma embraced Hook for what seemed like forever. She knew it was too much to ask for the woman to be happy to see her as well, after all they weren't exactly the best of friends prior to them being separated by the curse. After what seemed like forever Emma let go of Hook and looked at Regina, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Regina." She said with a small nod.

"Emma." Regina replied with a smile and a returning head nod.

Hook smiled and reached down, his hand wrapping around Emma's, and she didn't fight it.

"Mom, mom are you still up here?!"

"Henry." Regina felt as though the breath had been stolen from her lungs as the boy rounded the corner of the stairs and came into sight.

"Yeah...how do you know my name?"

"I, I mean, I ju-"

"I told her." Emma said as she pulled away from Hook and walked over to the top of the stairs into sight. "We were just discussing the case and, well, I-"

"She said that she didn't know what she would do if her son Henry went missing." Mary Margaret jumped in, "I'm S-umm, Mary Margaret Blanchard."

"Are you the one that my mom's working for?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. My daughter, she was missing."

"Was, as in past tense, as in we're done here and can go home." Henry looked at Emma hopefully.

"Sorry kid, we're not leaving yet."

"Yet, but Emma, yo-"

"Um, Henry, why don't you go hang out with Killian for a bit, I need to talk with Mary Margaret a bit more."

Henry looked at the man dressed all in black with dark eyeliner and raised an eyebrow at him, "Killian, you're trusting me to a man with the word kill in his name...great parenting choice."

"He's not a bad guy Henry, be nice."

Hook chuckled as he headed down the stairs, Henry sighed as he turned and followed. Emma and Regina watched them, Mary Margaret went back inside and handed off the baby to David whom brought him upstairs into the nursery. Once Henry and Hook were outta sight Regina and Emma joined Mary Margaret in the apartment.

"Well obviously whatever made the enchantment wear off me didn't get to Henry yet." Emma said with a sigh as she shut the door, "That makes this whole situation complicated."

"It's not going to get to him..." Mary Margaret said as she sat down on the couch.

"What do you mean, how do you know that?"

"It was a potion," Regina said as she threw a hand up in the air and walked over sitting down on a chair, "Hook had a memory potion and Snow gave it to you."

"But I didn't..." her eyes grew huge, "the hot chocolate...of course."

Mary Margaret nodded, "There was only one dose and we didn't know if it was going to work or not and, well, if you remembered you could help us find a way to make him remember."

"But I don't know anything about potions or magic, Henry was the one who had knowledge on all of that sorta stuff. He was the one that convinced me it was real, and understood it all."

"But he's a thirteen year old kid Emma, he wouldn't have been able to keep you in town. It had to have been you that got the first potion." Regina said matter-of-fact like as she leaned back in the chair with a sigh. "Now you need to help us because, well, I can't live in a town with my son walking around and him not knowing who I am..." Regina looked up, her eyes connecting with Emma's, "it was like he looked right through me. I don't think I can handle that feeling again and again forever."

Emma nodded, she knew it was cruel for Regina to have to see Henry and act like she didn't know who he was or how much she loved him. She had raised Henry for most of his life, and she had given Henry and Emma new memories as a gift so that it wouldn't have to be hard on them losing their families yet this was how she was being repaid. It wasn't right. Regina closed her eyes as she shook her head and tried to hold back her tears.

Emma walked across the room and set her hand on Regina's shoulder, "We will fix this Regina, somehow we will get him to remember."


End file.
